Mathieu van der Poel enjoyed a stellar year as world road race champion in 2024, the highlights of which must be the solo Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix wins, as well as a world gravel and cyclocross title.
The Dutchman's incredible achievements may have been in danger of being overshadowed by the peloton's other superhuman talent, Tadej Pogacar, at times. But make no mistake, MVDP is one of the best to ever do it.
Van der Poel had ridden and raced just one road race this year, after he recovered from an intense cyclo cross campaign and as he prepares for the classics. He sprinted to victory at Ename Samyn Classic at the start of March.
The multiple world champion is now racing at Tirreno Adriatico, the Italian stage race, as he looks to sharpen his form ahead of his key targets of the year, the big spring classics, in particular Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel has ridden on a Canyon Aeroad in road races for many years now. This is our hub documenting some of the key Canyon models he has ridden over the years. The Dutchman even signed an unusual 10-year contract with the German brand last year.
The star lines up at Tirreno Adriatico, riding a custom-painted MyCanyon road bike alongside several of his teammates. MyCanyon is the new custom bike programme from Canyon, and Van der Poel was showing off the premium Aeroad CFR design, created by Italian artist Elena Salmistraro.
As a rider who competes in road racing, cyclocross, gravel and mtb, we have taken a look at some of the interesting machines Van der Poel has raced on over the last few years.
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What is Mathieu van der Poel's bike for 2025?
Van der Poel races on the Canyon Aeroad CFR in every road race he rides, and the Aeroad CFR model got a full update last year. We had spotted Van der Poel riding the new model before its launch at several races.
The new Aeroad CFR boosted aero with a few revised tube profiles and received T25 Torx hardware pretty much across the board for single-tool adjustments. The bike also came with an adjustable Canyon Pace handlebar with two kinds of drop extensions available. At the time, perhaps unsurprisingly, Canyon called it 'the fastest bike in the peloton'.
According to the internet (we haven't measured him ourselves) Van der Poel is 1.84m tall and weighs 75kg. He rides a size Large Aeroad CFR, which has a reach of 401mm and a stack of 580mm.
Van der Poel, like most professionals, rides a pretty aggressive setup with a pretty much slammed 120mm long handlebar stem and his gear shifters quite low down on the integrated handlebars, which also lend themselves to the aggressive setup.
He uses 172.5mm cranks and turns his Shimano Dura-Ace levers in slightly but doesn't go the whole hog with an extreme setup as is popular currently amongst some riders.
Mathieu van der Poel's Canyon Aeroad: Specifications
The Alpecin-Deceuninck Canyon Aeroad bikes are a purple/blue colour this year. But after the launch of the new MyCanyon custom programme, select Canyon athletes are racing on hand-painted models from the range, which can be ordered online.
Van der Poel is racing on one of the two most expensive paint options that are part of the MyCanyon 'Opus' collection. This is the same frame, a Canyon Aeroad CFR as the dutch star usually rides, but with one of the hand-painted schemes. We understand he will ride it for at least one race this season, but we don't expect him to use it all year.
Famed Italian artist Salmistraro is said to have used the 'magic of colour' to create a 'joyful' aeroad design. It somehow seems fitting for the early season Italian stage race at the start of spring.
The spec is the same; there are the Dura-Ace wheels and groupset, and the key change, as mentioned, is the new Pirelli P Zero RS tyres.
Van der Poel is also riding with the Canyon 'Pro' base bar, which features a more aggressive-than-usual negative rise handlebar stem in a 120mm length. We assume this just helps him drop a headset spacer and get a bit lower. Teammate Jasper Philipsen uses the same setup.
The bright custom painted Aeroad CFR is part of the MyCanyon Opus collection. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
No mistaking who this one belongs to, 'A' refers to a riders no.1 race bike. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
A very different colour scheme for MVDP. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
This paint will be available to order and carries a $1,500 surcharge. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
The Shimano Dura-Ace equipment remains throughout the bike. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
Van der Poel looks to be up to speed with the new Pirelli rubber. (Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
History
Van der Poel has been riding for his current team for his entire career, including his time before joining the WorldTour when he was racing cyclocross. It picked up Deceuninck as a sponsor in July 2022, having previously been called Alpecin-Fenix from the 2020 season. In previous years, the roster of team sponsors has changed regularly, but it included Corendon from 2016 racing under the Correndon - Circus name in 2019 when Van der Poel claimed his maiden World Tour win.
The team has been sponsored by Canyon since 2017, with the Aeroad its principal road bike.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
At a glance
Year
Team
Main bike
2025
Alpecin-Deceuninck
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2024
Alpecin-Deceuninck
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2023
Alpecin-Deceuninck
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2022
Alpecin-Fenix
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2021
Alpecin-Fenix
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2020
Alpecin-Fenix
Canyon Aeroad CFR
2019
Corendon-Circus
Canyon Aeroad CFR
Mathieu van der Poel's 2024 TDF Rainbow Canyon Aeroad
For the 2024 Tour de France, as befitting the world champion, Canyon provided a custom-painted rainbow Aeroad CFR. Check it out in our full bike check.
Van der Poel used all the same componentry, but the bike featured a kind of spray-paint rainbow effect paint scheme on the forks, downtube and seatube.
White and rainbow, always a great combination for a bike frame (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The paintjob featured a kind of speckled, spray paint finish. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Rainbow spray for the world champion. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
As well as the width adjustable handlebar launched on the most up to date Canyon Aeroad. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Dura-Ace Di2, as usual. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2023 TDF Canyon Aeroad
We snapped Van der Poel's Canyon Aeroad at the Tour de France in 2023. Where the dutchman was riding a bright white model.
Alpecin-Deceuninck's setups have stayed consistent for several years, and the 2023 Tour bike you see here was fitted with the familiar Dura-Ace groupset, wheels and Vittoria Corsa Pro 28mm tyres.
2023 also marked fifty years of Dura-Ace, and the frameset did have a decal to commemorate the special anniversary down on the seat stay.
Van der Poel was also using the Canyon CP0015 integrated bar and stem in 2023, which was superceded later on by the CP0018 handlebars.
From red to bright white for Tour. It's common for star riders to get a fresh paintjob from a sponsor for the biggest race of the year. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The new Aeroad fork is a slightly different shape from the older version. Whilst the crisp white paint makes logo's stand out clearly. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A deep, aero profile on the head tube and white handlebar tape for a morale boost. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A one-piece, adjustable Canyon CP0015 cockpit with Selle Italia handlebar tape. (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A pretty low front end for Van der Poel, he runs his stem pretty much slammed (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
This is a 17-gram 3D-printed computer mount. Every gram counts at the top and a lot of attention is taken to making sure computers are in line with the bars to stop them from sitting out in the wind and creating extra drag (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The underside of the CP0015 handlebars, you can also get a better look at the 3d printed mount from here (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
A large Canyon logo stands out against the large white downtube, the blue Alpecin-Deceuninc bidons add a splash of colour (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The C50 wheels seem to be a pretty popular choice amongst the pros; Van der Poel runs them regularly (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
28mm tubeless Vittoria Corsa Pros won several stages and the race overall this year (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Tubeless tyres are rapidly displacing tubulars as the go to tyre platform (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
If you're going to have white handlebar tape you may as well co-ordinate with a white saddle. Note the slammed saddle position on the rails and aero seatpost profile (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The new Aeroad features a revised seat clamp design, Van der Poel also gets a name sticker on the top tube with a Dutch flag (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
54-40T Dura Ace chainrings are fitted to the chainset (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
50 years of Dura-Ace, Shimano groupsets took home the most stage wins this year, which we covered in our who won on what piece.(Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2023 E3 Saxo Classic race bike
Van der Poel raced on the new Aeroad at the E3 Saxo Classic in March, he finished second in the race behind a charging Wout Van Aert.
Aside from a change to slightly shallower wheels, Van der Poel's bike setup was pretty much unchanged from his setup from Milan San Remo, where he took a magnificent win after attacking on the Poggio.
Mathieu van der Poel's new Canyon Aeroad ready to race (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Van der Poel rides a size L Canyon Aeroad. The paint has already had a bash, likely from transport (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Bikes racked up ahead of the start of the E3 Saxo Classic race (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
The new Canyon Aeroad moves the seatpost bolt to the upper side of the top tube and there's a new bulge in its seat tube junction to accommodate the clamping mechanism (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
The seat tube clamp now resides in the top tube rather than in the back of the seat tube as in the previous model Aeroad (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
A custom head tube logo with his initials features on van der Poel's bike (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Van der Poel's full Dura-Ace build includes the power meter and pedals (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Key points in the race and when to eat and drink feature in van der Poel's stem sticker (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels are shod with 28mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres for the E3 Saxo Classic; at Milan-San Remo van der Poel was riding C60 wheels (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
The Aeroad has a one-piece bar/stem with a sleek profile (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
The Dura-Ace power meter includes a pod on the left crank for the strain gauges (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Van der Poel sits on a Selle Italia Flite saddle with carbon rails (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Elite Custom Race Plus bottle cages may not be the flashiest, but they weigh just 40g each and ensure a firm hold on the Elite Fly lightweight bottles (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2022 Canyon Aeroad training bike
We caught up with Mathieu van der Poel at a winter training camp in November and managed to have some time with his training bike.
It had a few interesting points that differed slightly from his training bike including an Ultegra cassette we think to possibly balance costs. He was also running Inner tubes for training with the mechanics citing less hassle as well as shallower Dura Ace C36 wheels.
Van der Poels bike training bike featured shallower Dura-Ace C36 wheels (Image credit: Future)
Note the lack of top tube clamp bolt, in comparison to the new 2023 bike (Image credit: Future)
Corsa 25mm tyres and inner tubes for training (Image credit: Future)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2022 Gravel Worlds Canyon Ultimate CFR
The inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships took place in late 2022 and a number of World Tour stars lined up to compete. Mathieu van der Poel competed, riding to a third-place finish.
There was much speculation pre-race about whether the road riders in particular would use road bikes with gravel tyres (doable now clearances are big enough) or slightly more relaxed gravel bikes.
Van der Poel opted to use a faster road bike with gravel tyres fitted. Choosing the semi-aero Canyon Ultimate CFR fitted with his usual road equipment and Vittoria gravel tyres.
A road frame with gravel tyres was the Dutchmans choice for the gravel worlds (Image credit: Mathieu van der Poel)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2022 Pink Canyon Speedmax
Mathieu van der Poel lined up for the second stage time trial of the 2022 Giro d'Italia with a bike to match the Maglia Rosa pink leaders jersey he claimed on stage one.
The specially painted bike was a slightly different shade to the race leaders jersey itself making for an interesting contrast. The majority of the rest of the components being black also ensured the bike stood out.
A similar equipment package looked to be in place for the Dutchman to defend the race lead after a scramble for faster equipment to defend his lead early on in the 2021 Tour de France.
The bike appeared to be a stock Speedmax apart from the one off paint scheme (Image credit: Alpecin-Fenix)
An aero and integrated front end (Image credit: Alpecin-Fenix)
A profiled head tube and subtle Canyon logo (Image credit: Alpecin-Fenix)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2021 TDF yellow Canyon Aeroad
The 2021 Tour de France included a first stint in yellow for van der Poel and his team duly rolled out a yellow Canyon Aeroad. The bike also featured a message in honour of his famous grandfather, the late Raymond Poulidor, who was the eternal second in the 1960s and 70s. Van der Poel took a spectacular and emotional stage win which saw him point to the sky in memory of his grandfather.
Van der Poel rode a yellow Aeroad at the 2021 Tour de France after he took the yellow jersey on Stage 2 (Image credit: Alpecin Fenix)
A text in honour of van der Poel's famous grandfather (Image credit: Alpecin Fenix)
Even the Wahoo Elemnt computer got a yellow case (Image credit: Alpecin Fenix)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2021 Canyon Inflite cyclocross bike
Van der Poel bagged his fourth cyclocross world championship in 2021 aboard the Canyon Inflite SLX model that he'd been riding since Canyon took over as team sponsor in 2017.
The bike has a kinked top tube to make shouldering easier and van der Poel continued to use the classic cyclocross 46/36t double chainset along with FMB tubular cyclocross tyres. In 2023, we spotted him aboard a new Inflite. The kinked top tube remains, but the cable routing has gone internal.
Mathieu van der Poel won the 2021 cyclocross world championship on this Canyon Inflite (Image credit: Joris Knapen)
The kinked top tube on the Inflite helps add space for shouldering and carrying (Image credit: Joris Knapen)
The Inflite, like the Aeroad has a single piece bar-stem. The latest update sees the cables run internally (Image credit: Joris Knapen)
Van der Poel ran a 46/36t chainset and XTR pedals at the 2021 cyclocross worlds - a classic cyclocross set-up (Image credit: Joris Knapen)
FMB is a specialist in cyclocross tubular tyres (Image credit: Joris Knapen)
Mathieu van der Poel's 2019 Canyon Aeroad
In the 2019 season, van der Poel was on the previous generation Canyon Aeroad along with the last-generation 11-speed Shimano 9150 Dura-Ace groupset and tubular wheelset. Tyres, saddle and bottle cages were from the current sponsors Selle Italia then ranges.
This version of the bike interesting also featured a seatpost clamp bolt on the top tube and external cable routing.
The Alpecin-Fenix rider's Canyon Aeroad bike was painted white in 2019 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The 2019 Aeroad had its seatpost clamp back on the top tube (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
The bar-stem was yet to feature the adjustable width design (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Van der Poel's 2019 Aeroad was equipped with the last generation 11-speed Dura-Ace 9150 (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
In 2019, the team was running Vittoria Corsa tubular tyres (Image credit: Josh Croxton)
Paul has been on two wheels since he was in his teens and he's spent much of the time since writing about bikes and the associated tech. He's a road cyclist at heart but his adventurous curiosity means Paul has been riding gravel since well before it was cool, adapting his cyclo-cross bike to ride all-day off-road epics and putting road kit to the ultimate test along the way. Paul has contributed to Cyclingnews' tech coverage for a few years, helping to maintain the freshness of our buying guides and deals content, as well as writing a number of our voucher code pages.
